🎉

Atong Paglaum v. COMELEC

Consti 1
Class

Area Constitutional Law Political Law

W/N the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion in disqualifying

Issue petitioners from participating in May 2013 partylist elections; W/N the
Raised Bagong Bayani and BANAT criteria should be applied in the elections

No and no; No grave abuse of discretion for Comelec complied w/

prevailing jurisprudence. Court adopted new parameters in this case—
based on intent of framers & express wording of law, party-list system is
Ruling for BOTH sectoral and non-sectoral parties. The phrase “marginalized and
underrepresented” should refer only to the sectors that are by nature
marginalized and underrepresented.

Court adopted new parameters abandoning the criteria laid out in Ang
Bagong Bayani (ABB) and BANAT. National, regional, OR sectoral groups
may participate in the party-list system. Criteria set out by ABB and
Doctrine BANAT (that party must represent the marginalized and underrepresented)
is not in accord with the 1987 Constitution (Art. VI, Section 5(1)) and RA
7941.

Date
@October 19, 2022
read

Topic House of Representatives Legislature Partylist System

Full
text?

Case
86
No.

Atong Paglaum v. COMELEC 1

 CASE DIGEST
DATE: April 2, 2013
CASE NO.:

Doctrine

Court adopted new parameters abandoning the criteria laid out in

Ang Bagong Bayani (ABB) and BANAT. National, regional, OR
sectoral groups may participate in the party-list system. Criteria set
out by ABB and BANAT (that party must represent the marginalized
and underrepresented) is not in accord with the 1987 Constitution
(Art. VI, Section 5(1)) and RA 7941.

Legal Basis
Art. VI, Sec. 5, Consti. (1) The House of Representatives shall be composed of not
more than two hundred and fifty members, unless otherwise fixed by law, who shall be
elected from legislative districts apportioned among the provinces, cities, and the
Metropolitan Manila area in accordance with the number of their respective inhabitants,
and on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio, and those who, as provided by law,
shall be elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional, and
sectoral parties or organizations.

(2) The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per centum of the total number
of representatives including those under the party list. For three consecutive terms after
the ratification of this Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to party-list
representatives shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or election from the
labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such
other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector.
Art. IX-C, Sec. 7, Consti. No votes cast in favor of a political party, organization, or
coalition shall be valid, except for those registered under the party-list system as
provided in this Constitution.

Art. IX-C, Sec. 8, Consti. Political parties, or organizations or coalitions registered

under the party-list system, shall not be represented in the voters' registration boards,

Atong Paglaum v. COMELEC 2

 boards of election inspectors, boards of canvassers, or other similar bodies. However,
they shall be entitled to appoint poll watchers in accordance with law.

Action Before the SC

Consolidated 54 petitions for certiorari or certiorari and prohibition

🗣 Petitioner(s): Atong Paglaum et al.

👤 Respondent(s): COMELEC

Facts
Approx. 280 groups and organizations registered for May 2013 partylist elections.
52 were disqualified by Comelec either by denying their petitions for registration or
cancellation of their registration and accreditation as partylist organizations.

Grounds for denial included (1) that the sectors they claim to represent are not
marginalized and underrepresented, (2) that the members or nominees do not
belong to marginalized and underrepresented, etc. Essentially, they failed to meet
the guidelines specified in Ang Bagong Bayani in relation to RA 7941.

Issue
W/N the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion in disqualifying petitioners
from participating in May 2013 partylist elections; W/N the Bagong Bayani and BANAT
criteria should be applied in the elections

Ruling
No grave abuse of discretion b/c COMELEC was following prevailing jurisprudence.

Nevertheless, Court adopted new parameters, abandoning criteria from Bagong Bayani
and Banat b/c these were found to be not in accord with the 1987 Consti.

Atong Paglaum v. COMELEC 3

 Intent of framers was that non-sectoral parties should also be allowed to join (based
on ConstiComm deliberations).

Text of Art. VI, Sec. 5(1) of Consti clearly expresses that national, regional, and
sectoral parties are distinct and separate from each other. A national or regional
party need not be sectoral.

Art. VI, Sec. 5(2) of Consti further designates that half of seats shall be filled by
sectoral representatives. It follows that the other half can be occupied by non-
sectoral representatives who earn the appropriate percentages of votes.

RA 7941 refers to the marginalized and underrepresented once in its declaration of

policy (Sec. 2). However, the specific implementing provisions of R.A. No. 7941 do
not define or require that the sectors, organizations or parties must be "marginalized
and underrepresented." (See also discussion of Sec. 3, Definition of Terms; Sec. 5,
wc lists some sectors; Sec. 6, Grounds for Refusal and/or Cancellation of
Registration.)

Based on these findings, the new parameters are:

1. Three different groups may participate in the party-list system: (1) national parties or
organizations, (2) regional parties or organizations, and (3) sectoral parties or
organizations.

2. National parties or organizations and regional parties or organizations do not need

to organize along sectoral lines and do not need to represent any "marginalized and
underrepresented" sector.

3. Political parties can participate in party-list elections provided they register under
the party-list system and do not field candidates in legislative district elections. A
political party, whether major or not, that fields candidates in legislative district
elections can participate in party-list elections only through its sectoral wing that can
separately register under the party-list system. The sectoral wing is by itself an
independent sectoral party, and is linked to a political party through a coalition.

4. Sectoral parties or organizations may either be "marginalized and

underrepresented" or lacking in "well-defined political constituencies." It is enough
that their principal advocacy pertains to the special interest and concerns of their
sector. The sectors that are "marginalized and underrepresented" include labor,
peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, handicapped,

Atong Paglaum v. COMELEC 4

 veterans, and overseas workers. The sectors that lack "well-defined political
constituencies" include professionals, the elderly, women, and the youth.

5. A majority of the members of sectoral parties or organizations that represent the

"marginalized and underrepresented" must belong to the "marginalized and
underrepresented" sector they represent. Similarly, a majority of the members of
sectoral parties or organizations that lack "well-defined political constituencies" must
belong to the sector they represent. The nominees of sectoral parties or
organizations that represent the "marginalized and underrepresented," or that
represent those who lack "well-defined political constituencies," either must belong
to their respective sectors, or must have a track record of advocacy for their
respective sectors. The nominees of national and regional parties or organizations
must be bona-fide members of such parties or organizations.

6. National, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations shall not be disqualified if

some of their nominees are disqualified, provided that they have at least one
nominee who remains qualified.

Further rationale
The phrase "marginalized and underrepresented" should refer only to the sectors in
Section 5 that are, by their nature, economically "marginalized and
underrepresented." These sectors are: labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor,
indigenous cultural communities, handicapped, veterans, overseas workers, and
other similar sectors. For these sectors, a majority of the members of the sectoral
party must belong to the "marginalized and underrepresented." The nominees of the
sectoral party either must belong to the sector, or must have a track record of
advocacy for the sector represented. Belonging to the "marginalized and
underrepresented" sector does not mean one must "wallow in poverty, destitution or
infirmity." It is sufficient that one, or his or her sector, is below the middle class.
More specifically, the economically "marginalized and underrepresented" are those
who fall in the low income group as classified by the National Statistical
Coordination Board.

The recognition that national and regional parties, as well as sectoral parties of
professionals, the elderly, women and the youth, need not be "marginalized and
underrepresented" will allow small ideology-based and cause-oriented parties who
lack "well-defined political constituencies" a chance to win seats in the House of

Atong Paglaum v. COMELEC 5

 Representatives. On the other hand, limiting to the “marginalized and
underrepresented" the sectoral parties for labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor,
indigenous cultural communities, handicapped, veterans, overseas workers, and
other sectors that by their nature are economically at the margins of society, will
give the "marginalized and underrepresented" an opportunity to likewise win seats
in the House of Representatives. This interpretation will harmonize the 1987
Constitution and R.A. No. 7941 and will give rise to a multi-party system where
those "marginalized and underrepresented," both in economic and
ideological status, will have the opportunity to send their own members to the
House of Representatives.

The major political parties are those that field candidates in the legislative district
elections. Major political parties cannot participate in the party-list elections since
they neither lack "well-defined political constituencies" nor represent "marginalized
and underrepresented" sectors. Thus, the national or regional parties under the
party-list system are necessarily those that do not belong to major political parties.
This automatically reserves the national and regional parties under the party-list
system to those who "lack well-defined political constituencies," giving them the
opportunity to have members in the House of Representatives.

PARTY-LIST SYSTEM

Simply put, the party-list system is intended to democratize political power by giving
political parties that cannot win in legislative district elections a chance to win seats
in the House of Representatives.

The voter elects two representatives in the House of Representatives: one for his or
her legislative district, and another for his or her party-list group or organization of
choice.

Atong Paglaum v. COMELEC 6